Apple files patent for 'Waze-plus'

Apple has filed a patent application for something that looks remarkably similar to Google's billion-dollar crowdsourced mapping buy, Waze - which earlier this year was rumoured to be an Apple takeover target.

The fourth-of-July filing for “User Specified Route Rating and Alerts”, US application 20130173155, has one of the briefest abstracts this Vulture South hack has seen:

“In some implementations, a user can provide ratings for routes, streets and/or locations. In some implementations, the user can initiate an alert associated with a location. In some implementations, user-specified ratings and alerts can be included in a route determination. In some implementations, route rating and alert information can be transmitted to other users and/or devices. “

Under the claims, users would rate routes at the end of their trip, either on a binary or gradated scale; can associate characteristics with routes; can add text descriptions to routes; and so on.

In other words, it's either a patent for a Waze-plus, which if granted would somewhat discombobulate The Chocolate Factory; or its a patent for collecting information in a database keyed to locations or routes, which might find itself opposed by other parts of the industry, such as most geo-database firms.

There is a hint of a trivial novelty in the patent: once a user has rated a route, other subscribers could have that rating pushed to them – so if there's an accident blocking a freeway, a user's report would alert other users to find a different route.

It would make sense for Apple to try to add crowd-sourced information to its mapping capabilities. Its rush-job mapping efforts have drawn derision from users for a lack of “ground truthing” before the product was launched, and Cupertino has been advertising for GIS expertise in various countries to try and repair the damage to its reputation.